Brought the twins to mass tonight...

And they didn't scream their heads off! Bliss.

We're to have the baptism March 8th. Hopefully myself and Ben will come up with some posts before then. But we'll deffinately post pictures of the baptism here on this blog!

Uh oh... Ingebjorg is grunting for a feed. My kingdom for an extra pair of arms!!!!!!

God bless! Gotta run.

Happy News!

Coffee Catholic has given birth to twins: a girl & a boy. Mother & babies are both well.

Thank God we *do* have a parish priest...

Our dear late Father Ronnie was not our parish priest, something he made certain that everyone knew and understood. He was a "retired" priest (is there such a thing??) who so very kindly came here to Orkney so that he could give our parish priest a helping hand ~ and save Father Allen a lot of time and energy literally ferrying himself back and forth, back and forth, between Orkney and Caithness. (Which is the very north of Scotland.)
As is typical of priests, our dear Father Allen is an "unsung hero" as he goes about doing, what I'm sure he'd claim, is "just" his duty: caring for those parishes that have been assigned to him. The only thing is... one of those parishes happens to be located across a rough body of water and on an island...

And that would be us! Our Lady and Saint Joseph parish in Kirkwall, Orkney. Yes indeed, Father Allen has the lifestyle of what we would call back in Alaska a "bush priest." Bush priests are those that have multiple parishes in rural (or spread-out) areas that often require an impressive bit of travel. That about sums up each Sunday for our parish priest here in Orkney! So if any of you good readers could include Father Allen's health and well being in your prayers we would be most greatful! Because we are deffinately greatful for his dedication to a rather small population of Catholics over here on our islands.

Our parish of Our Lady and Saint Joseph here in Kirkwall is not actually in dire straights after the passing of our dear Father Ronnie. That's because, as I stated above, we have a dedicated parish priest that is absolutely determined to come up here to Orkney from Caithness every Sunday so that we will have the holy sacrifice of Mass. The only reason we keep praying, and asking for prayers, "for another priest" is because we don't want to run our dear Father Allen into the ground! It's not that Father Allen is incapable of coming here each Sunday, it's just that it would be nice if he could be given a break ~ even if that was only one Sunday each month. It can't be easy for anyone to say Mass at two different parishes "doon sooth" in Caithness and then hop on a ferry to Orkeny to say Mass again. And let's not forget that priests have a zillion other duties as well!

Personally, I'm selfish. I like Father Allen as much as I liked Father Ronnie and I would be perfectly content to have Father Allen here every Sunday. Buuuuuut Christian charity causes me to pray for another priest to help chip in and save our parish priest some time. Also, it's SUCH a blessing to have daily Mass in Kirkwall and a local priest to help guide Father Allen's flock when he is away doon sooth.

I'd like to end this post first by thanking God for providing us with a wonderful parish priest that is willing to hop on that ferry every Sunday and come here to Orkney and give us the luxury of weekly Mass. After living in Alaska I know exactly what it's like to only have Mass when a priest is available so weekly Mass is a luxury ~ and daily Mass even more so!

Secondly, I'd like to appeal to you readers to pray for us that even if there is not a another priest available "full time" for Orkney that maybe God can still find someone that will be able to give Father Allen some help for however much time they can spare each month. Especially with daily Mass and helping to visit and encourage Orcadian Catholics.

Thank you and God bless you! I'm away to bed ~ these twins are due any time and all that I seem to do these days is SLEEP.

Requiem for Fr Walls

A Requiem Mass for Fr Ronald Walls will be celebrated in St Magnus' Cathedral, Kirkwall, on Friday 8 January at 2 p.m. His body will then be taken to Edinburgh, where he will be laid to rest alongside his wife.

Please pass this on to any one who may like to attend the Mass in Kirkwall.

R.I.P. Father Ronald Walls

Rev. Fr Ronald Walls, 1920-2010

Great-grandfather - Scholar - Musician

Priest of God

In the early hours of this morning, the Orkney parish lost its priest-in-residence, Fr Ronald Walls, who died after a short illness. Ronald Walls at one time considered a career in the Opera, but chose instead the Presbyterian ministry. Challenged by a parishioner to cite the authority for his preaching, he thought long and hard about the question of theological authority. Like many others who have been forced to confront the question, he concluded that the Catholic Church alone could claim to be the voice of God on earth. The young minister and his wife entered that Church as layfolk in 1948; only after his wife's tragic death did Ronald seek ordination to the priesthood. He trained at the Beda College in Rome.
When he was already in his mid 80s, and still carrying an injury from the car crash that had killed his wife thirty years before, Fr Walls - known to us all as Father Ronnie - volunteered to live out what remained of his retirement in Orkney, where some of his ancestors had come from. Some 'retirement'! Orkney is not a populous parish, but it includes a dozen or so inhabited islands, many of them with a Catholic presence, and until his final months Father Ronnie was zealous in visiting Rousay, Sanday and Stronsay to celebrate Mass. He kept up his daily public Masses until the day before he went into hospital; almost every day he would preach, sharing some insight from his wide knowledge and profound understanding of Holy Scripture. During his time in Orkney, he dealt with a church that was flooded out and required major refurbishment as a result. He leaves a parish bursting with young life (was it eight or nine infant baptisms last year?); two boys made their debut as altar servers at the last major Mass that Father Ronnie offered - on Christmas Day.

Much more could be said about this extraordinary priest. We already miss him.

'Grant, Lord, that your servant the priest Ronald, whom you honoured with sacred office in this world, may be happy for ever in an honoured place in heaven.' - from the Requiem Mass.

As noted in an earlier post, there will be a service with Holy Communion tomorrow at 11 a.m. Fr John Allan will celebrate Mass at the parish church on Monday 4 January at 12 noon. It is hoped that a date will soon be announced for Father Ronnie's funeral.

Uh... our parish priest just died????

I'm still trying to get my head around this. I'll admit it: I'm totally shocked! So is Erlend. Father Ronnie never once struck us as being near death!! We were both at the hospital the day Father Ronnie came in with an infection but we thought we'd be polite and give him some space to get settled in so we went home without visiting him. I sure hope that wasn't the wrong thing to do ~ we were by no means trying to ignore him!

Father Ronnie came here about what, three years ago? And he's been such a wonderful presense in our lives!! I've learned so much from him through his bible studies and his sermons and his catechism discussions after mass. And that's not forgetting the fact that Father Ronnie was an absolute hoot ~ a true, witty Scotsman with a hilarious personal story to share from his deep well of adventures. I think Father was leaning more towards the age of 90? So he deffinately lived a long and interesting life! He even wrote a book: "Love Greater then Death" (Father lived a hard life too and so he understood human suffering and struggle from first hand experience!)

He helped me and Erlend deal with our seeming infertility and said to us that, "I want to live long enough to baptise at least one of your children." Imagine our delight when he got his wish last December with Elspeth's baptism. Praise God for that blessing.

I have no idea what to say. Obviously I'm more sad for myself then Father Ronnie. I can't imagine that Father is anywhere but in heaven so I have great peace in my heart. But I'm sad for myself as I'll surely miss dear Father Ronnie! Please, pray for our parish. We are deffinately mourning the passing of Father but we are also now in a bind: no local Priest living here in our rectory. We have a fine parish priest but he has to travel by ferry from the mainland in order to have Sunday mass. Which is not easy for him!

Please pray for us that we move through our loss with joy in our hearts for Father's long, good life ~ and please pray for us that God helps us find a priest. I feel sorry for whoever that priest might be because he's going to have some very big shoes to fill!!!!!

Meanwhile I'm going to continue to try and get my mind around the fact that Father Ronnie has passed away. It's just such a shock.

(Perhaps Ben can write something about Father Ronnie that's a lot better then what I tried here??)

Christmas at Golgatha Monastery, Papa Stronsay, Orkney

Here are just two photos from the monks' website ~ I encourage you to go and have a look and a read of their wonderful post about Christmas at Golgatha Monastery here in Orkney!

What a lovely scene! Just looking at this picture makes my heart swell. I'm so glad that the monks share such fantastic photos. If we didn't have 300 head of cattle and 100 head of sheep we'd have hopped on the ferry and attended at least ONE Mass in Stronsay!
Look what the monks do in their refectory (the place where they eat their meals) ~ strae on the floor with the baby Jesus! What a fantastic way to smell, feel, and see the manger in Bethlehem here and now in the present! ("Strae" is "straw" in the Orcadian language.)

Thank you, Fathers and Brothers, for sharing your monastic lives with the rest of us! May God bless you with an abundance of young, persevering vocations ~ and may your prayers bring the Faith back to these blessed isles!!!